‘Haute’ Does Not Mean ‘Skeletal’

Gloria Brame alerts us to this ‘look’ saying “If this is a new model of female beauty, God have mercy on us. She looks like her ribs would crack if someone made love to her.”

This model looks more than ‘unhealthy’ but sick.The dark circles under her eyes and the use of makeup to add to her ‘natural’ look of fatigue, hunger and dis-ease. Her bones are not contours or structure, but showing, to the point where one of Gloria’s posters wrote “if she was black it would be assumed, that she lived in the Dafur region. Starvation is not attractive.”

I don’t just ‘dislike this look’ because ‘I am a woman’ or even a woman with curves, but because this simply doesn’t work on so many levels. This is not just a case of personal taste, but one of practical matters.

Once upon a time, on the runways of yore, models were used to show-off the clothing. A standard form may have been necessary then for the ease of dressmakers and designers. A standard of beauty creating long lines and an illusion of ‘freakish’ proportions was begun.

While you may joke that fashion models are just clothing hangers which can walk, there is some truth to this role of the model. She is to make the clothes look good (not the other way around). A model shouldn’t detract or distract from the fashions. You are to want the clothing and the model is to be secondary; rather like the handbag to a dress, or a plate to a fine meal. However, as this model shows, upstaging the clothes isn’t necessarily a good thing. Who wants to be known as the rack of bones beneath them? (If it’s you, then seek help!)

So, lesson #1 this model does not show off the fashions.

If beauty is about attraction, and attraction largely a part of biology, then this scrap of a skeleton isn’t going to attract anyone. There are no signs of fertility, which youth is an advertisement for — and I’ll bet she doesn’t even menstruate. That’s bad for her, and a turn-off for attraction.

In the instance of this dress on actually has to wonder how it is supposed to fit. Is it to drape and leave such excessive gaps? (If so, forget about underwear sightings and butt-crack — what is covered with this shit — er, sheet?)

Lesson #2, this look doesn’t make us want to have those clothes.

Combine 1 & 2 and what’s the math? A poor choice for the runway & the fashion designer.

3 Responses to "‘Haute’ Does Not Mean ‘Skeletal’"

Is this the cocaine-and-crack look?Even Kate Moss got over that one! You are right, Slip, this won’t sell many clothes in the real world. But tell me, do any designers actually live in the real world? As a guy, I hate it, as a recreational CD, it would put me off cross-dressing.

oh wow this is scary skinny. it would be great if designers used more models that were a size 6-10. i don’t think there should be a ban on all “skinny” models, but a reality check on the catwalk would be nice not to mention healthier for everyone.

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